Chapter 67

About an hour after arriving at Styx HQ the group was finally let back into the conference room they had been ushered into earlier. They were now all in a Styx provided 'uniform' of gray pants and tunic with a Styx logo and a black collar.

"Idia what was THAT? I'm a world class model you know I'm very particular about what comes into contact with my skin. You except me to accept a spray down from a glorified garden hose? And you didn't even provide moisturizer, moisturizing after cleaning you face is the most circuital step in maintaining a beautiful complexion." Vil demanded.

"Now I know I know what it's like to be a car going through a car wash." Jamil said.

"And what it's like to be a set of sheet in a dryer." Riddle added.

"It was bad enough that thing went in my mouth but it even washed inside my ears. I'm still squicked out from that." Leona muttered.

"I normally prize efficiency above all else but I've officially decided that no matter how busy I get I will never start using an automated bathing machine." Azul declared.

"Really? All the staff love it. They say it makes showers take no time at all." Ortho said as he and Idia entered the room.

"Tch, that's not even the worst of it. It's this stinkin collar." Leona stated as his hand went to the collar to try and pull at it but it didn't budge.

"These chokers appear to have the same effect as my signature spell. I've been trying to muster some magic for a little while now but I've come up empty." Riddle said.

"Sorry about that. We have to make people wear those to ensure accurate data collection." Ortho apologized blankly.

"Wait, Riddle you've been trying to use magic. Can't take my eyes off you for a second. Ahem, anyway now that we've decontaminated you of any microorganisms you might have brought in I'd like to show you a little welcome video for Styx." Idia said as pulled a remote off the wall and turned on a giant screen on the far side of room.

"A welcome video?" Vil asked raising an eyebrow.

"Please take a seat and turn your attention to the screen." Was all Idia replied as he gestured to the seats around the room.

The video played and explained a little about magic, blot and the Styx Cooperation.

"And that's the movie, thanks for watching." Idia said once it was over.

"That was rather cheaply made promo video." Vil commented.

"Well if you want the TL:DR version magic is fancy miracle power with lots of unknowns and Styx makes sure people use it safely. They've been researching blot since the olden days like when people wrote on clay tablets and stuff. "Idia explained.

"If you wish to learn more about Styx have a 2 hour documentary. Would you like me to play it?" Ortho asked.

"I'm good thanks. So Styx has been researching blot since ancient times and we're all overblotters." Jamil summarized.

"Yeah, I'm startin to get the picture here. So what horrific experiments does the acting director have in store for us?" Leona asked.

"Heh, heh I'm glad you asked. To start with I'm going to strap you all into chairs so can't move then examine you with a bunch pf probes that way I can store some sweet data on the correlation between stress and blot accumulation." Idia stated with a wicked grin.

"What? Do you really think you can get away with such outrageous behavior?" Riddle snapped turning red.

"Uh no? I was doing a bit, sheesh, it's like you've never heard a joke before." Idia muttered.

Riddle just glared at him.

"In all fairness it wasn't remotely funny." Azul sighed.

"Agreed, you've taken our clothes and magic away we're completely at your mercy." Vil pointed out as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Idia, come on! They're already upset we hauled them out here against their wills scaring them will only make it worse." Ortho said.

"Well now I see you possess the compassion your brother sorely lacks." Vil said.

"Besides subjecting them to excessive levels of stress won't yield accurate data." Ortho added.

"Never mind I take it back you're exactly like your brother." Vil sighed.

"Anyway we brought you all here because we'd like you to help us collect data. You're all highly valuable specimens since you overblotted but weren't consumed by Phantoms." Ortho informed the group.

"What are Phantoms?" Vil asked raising an eyebrow.

"When you overblot all the blot you can't hold spills out and takes an a giant form. You guys saw the faceless monsters that appeared behind you right?" Idia asked.

They all think back to their overblots and the monsters that were beside them in their battles.

"We call those Phantoms. You weren't exactly yourselves so I don't know how much you registered. But when you overblotted you were able to use magic way beyond your normal reserves do you know why? It was because of those monsters. Phantoms feed on blot that's filled with the practitioner's darkest emotions it's their energy source." Idia explained.

Everyone else in the room looked shocked.

"Blot is toxic matter that's generated when you use magic. Normally it's nothing but a debuff but when you're in overblot mode that debuff turns into a buff. That's why overblotted mages instinctively blow through their reserves and keep generating blot. The Phantom suck it all up and get a bigger and bigger POW bonus. And once the mage exhausts the last of their reserves their job as an incubator is finished." Idia continued.

"An incubator?" Riddle asked.

"Yup, it's like you're an energy drink once they've drunk the last drop the empty can get chucked in the trash. The caster is gone leaving only a monster that's driven by hunger and negative emotions." Idia finished. "They wander the land refusing to let go and spewing hexes all over the place. Hence the name Phantom. At that point either the Arcane Response Unit steps in and slays them, or they're captured and brought here fro research. Through I've heard ultra rare cases where they manage to blend in with dire-beasts and other wildlife and hide in the mountains."

"I mean I knew that if someone overblotted and spent all their magical reserves they would die." Jamil muttered.

"But the monster living on after that? It's a bit hard to believe." Azul commented.

"Well there aren't too many cases that escalate to the point of creating Phantom. The thing about overblottiong is you have to be capable mage with a pretty big magic pool for it to happen at all. So it's about as rare as rolling a 4 SSRs on a single 10 pull in a gacha game with stingy draw rates. I mean most competent mages tend to be careful and show a bit of self control. Yet there was a whole slew of overblots in the past few months and all the same school. It's like why does our school keep churning out so many SSR Epic troublemaker cards? Amright? Heh heh." Idia morbidly chuckled.

"You have a gift for rubbing people the wrong way." Leon half growled.

"Okay, so we were brought in for research. Were you the one who issued that order Idia?" Azul asked as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Ugh…" Idia muttered but Ortho cut him off.

"Styx personnel are prohibited from disclosing such information to outsiders let's just say that in addition to the agents Styx deploys worldwide. We have a global network or informants, as we've just established. The Styx has conducted much research on blot over the years. One of our primary focuses is studying ways to safely and effectively utilize blot."

"Did you just say you're trying to use blot?" Vil asked.

"It's not that surprising? Sustainability a hot topic right now Social, environmental, economic, magic's no different. People call blot a 'waste product' but we consider it a valuable energy resource and we gotta recycle where we can right?" Idia pointed out.

"An energy resource huh?" Jamil questioned.

"And to carry out this valuable research Styx thinks they're justified in kidnapping potentially useful specimens. Real noble operation you guys got here." Leona grumbled.

"I'm sorry they seized you without explaining anything. But I assume none of you want to overblot again right? And I'm positive none of you want a Phantom using you like a seed potato. So it's extremely important you learn you learn more about the properties of your own magic and blot. Styx HQ has the most advance research labs in the world. No one else's readings are as accurate and detailed as ours and undergoing thorough examinations will greatly benefit you in the long run." Ortho stated.

"My, what an enticing sales pitch. Let me guess if we don't participate in you data collection you won't let us go back to school?" Vil remarked.

"I'm glad you catch on quickly Vil Schoenheit." Ortho said.

"Yeah. So let's get the paperwork outta the way take a look at the tablets at your seats." Idia said as he guested towards a set of chairs that had tablets beside them.

"What's all this?" Azul asked as he glance down at the tablet then back up at Idia.

"It's an NDA, just sign it once you read everything k? We'll email you a link where you can download a copy if you fill out your email address." Idia sighed.

"Excuse me?! You drag us here against our wills and now you except us to sign and NDA? There's an armed guard in here. We're clearly signing under duress." Vil snapped.

"Ugh, I bet you're the type that never reads the manual then yells at tech support about how it's not working right. Could you save the aggro for after you've read read it? This contract's meant to protect you too you know. Like I said before you don't hurt us we don't hurt you. If you agree to cooperate you'll receive all the latest blot treatment. The examinations take 24 hour that's it. All you have to do is give us is 24 hours of your time. Then we wrap everything up nice and neat and everyone goes home happy. I didn't ask for this job you know. I could be grinding out an event with my favorite character right now. You wanna get outta here fast? Read it? Sign it, bam, done." Idia informed them.

" Rgh, Radish Spourt's actin all high and might now that he thinks we're defenseless. If it wasn't for this stupid collar I'd turn all his hair to sand." Leona growled.

"Why Leona, for once we agree on something." Vil remarked.

It was over an hour later and no one in the group had signed the NDA yet.

"Dude, who actually reads every word from top to bottom and asks nitpicky questions about each point." Idia complained.

"Well, you have to make sure you understand and agree with the terms before signing something that's common sense." Vil stated.

"Agreed, if I got caught in some contract because of the fine print I'd never live it down." Azul added not looking up from his tablet.

"Vil and Azul are absolutely right. What if the terms contained something illegal?" Riddle said.

"You guys are seriously stubborn, guess that's why you're the SSR epic troublemakers." Idia muttered shaking his head.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It does feel like filler to me but it feels important to include in the story. Idia sure does like to talk a lot. I tried to cut it down but unless I summarize it I couldn't think of how to cut it down and I felt like summarizing would completely change my style which seems like a bad idea this far into the story. Maybe I'm just rusty from being off for a week. Thank you for sticking around.